 | Tracklist:
1. "Jetstream" – 5:30
2. "Kingdom of Rust" – 5:11
3. "The Outsiders" – 3:28
4. "Winter Hill" – 5:18
5. "10:03" – 4:04
6. "The Greatest Denier" – 3:59
7. "Birds Flew Backwards" – 2:51
8. "Spellbound" – 5:39
9. "Compulsion" – 5:14
10. "House of Mirrors" – 4:20
11. "Lifelines" – 4:26
Release Date: 04/07/2009 | |
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On 3 Lists
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| Summary: Still a likable band, still not ready for the big time. |
Both bands will no doubt be sick to the teeth of the comparisons by this point, but it's hard to get around the fact that the reception of Kingdom of Rust is defined by the success Elbow have had with The Seldom Seen Kid. Both are British bands who were mentioned when, five minutes after the release of "In My Place", people began asking who would be the next Coldplay, and both have been largely defined since by their failure to truly break away from the second tier. And now, suddenly, both are defined by their longevity; longevity which has seen their fanbases remain largely intact despite a seismic shift in the way British rock sounds. Doves could easily have been killed off by The Libertines and Arctic Monkeys, particularly since it's been 7 years since their most famous and successful (and best) album, and their 2005 album Some Cities was generally seen as a disappointment; and yet, they remain big enough to be one of the big names on the preliminary Glastonbury bill this year.
It's a great endorsement for their music, and something they should rightly be proud of. And still, you have to ask why.
As you'd expect, Doves tick all the boxes on the Coldplay bingo sheet. They make a lot of sound without ever being noisy, they employ the same strict rhythms as Snow Patrol, their songs start small and build from there. This is all purely superficial though; what keeps Doves a second-tier band is their songwriting. Where any number of the artists they currently compete with, or have competed with in the past (not just Coldplay and Elbow, but also Keane, Haven, Snow Patrol, Spiritualized, U2, The Fray, Martin Grech, Starsailor, Travis, Aqualung, and God knows who else) have a knack of making their songs universal, Doves don't. Think what you will about Bono and Chris Martin, but they are masters of writing songs that are both emotionally resonant and ambiguous about their true meaning, and Doves have quite simply never captured that wide-reaching appeal - their songs are grounded. Truthfully, you'd expect nothing less from a band who has their first taste of chart success as a dance group; on a subtle but important level, their songwriting hasn't really moved on since the days of "Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)", and it makes a huge difference to how this album feels. Just one listen to "The Scientist" was enough for millions of people to apply it to whatever was going on in their own lives, and it's tough to imagine that any of the 11 tracks here will have anything like the same impact on anybody outside the band's hardcore fanbase.
This hardly makes it a bad album though; far from it. Musically, the band are obviously tight and confident in their sound, frequently playing with as much swagger as it's possible to muster in this genre. In fact, the album's highlight, "Compulsion", comes when the band abandon their signature sound and instead play around with a light funk rhythm that calls to mind Duran Duran. Outside of that, though, they comfortably outstrip most of the bands listed above for instrumentals, just as they always have.
Perhaps the comparisons are harsh on Doves; yet from whatever angle you approach it, it's impossible to listen to Kingdom of Rust without the knowledge of what you want it to be hanging over it. Even existing fans of the band are likely to enjoy it only with the caveat that it's not as good as The Last Broadcast, and isn't significantly different enough to avoid the comparison. That's what really makes Kingdom of Rust the album it is, for better or for worse - you'll like it because of the music it reminds you of, but you won't love it for exactly the same reason.
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| Recent reviews by this author | | | |
i really like this. i find it affecting in a kind of sleepy way, and the lead single is a great track. review is good but it doesn't really say much about the sound except the start of paragraph 3.
Digging: The National - Alligator
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
Great review, pretty much encapsulates everything I thought of the album. "Jetstream" and "Birds Flew Backwards" are good, but the rest is pretty meh. Last Broadcast was better.
Digging: Maths - Descent | | |
Good review. I don't have anything by them but I'll probably look into this sometime.
Digging: Converge - Axe To Fall
| | | Album Rating: 3
Lovely review. I especially enjoy this sentence: "Doves tick all the boxes on the Coldplay bingo sheet".
Digging: Epica - The Divine Conspiracy | | |
I have yet to hear this album, but Nick's summary perfectly encapsulated my previous thoughts towards Doves. I love seeing them trundled out for 'Later With Jools' to sing 2 or 3 songs. But that's about it.
Digging: Paloma Faith - Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?
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That's what really makes Kingdom of Rust the album it is, for better or for worse - you'll like it because of the music it reminds you of, but you won't love it for exactly the same reason.
I love seeing sentences like this in reviews. It basically proves that you've put a fair amount of thought into it and yet know how to sum the review up. Great stuff.
I listened to a couple of songs, but neither of them did much for me. I'd probably agree with the review if I was to check out the album.
Digging: Steven Wilson - Insurgentes
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Great review, but I like this a little more than you.
Jetstream is incredible.
Digging: Biffy Clyro - Only Revolutions | | |
Listened to a song from this on the radio, it was pretty average.
Digging: Earth - Earth 2
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Didn't suspect it would be your thing, ras
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I like a lot of alt/indie. This was boring.
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And by this I mean the song.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
I recommend the song Jetstream; it's very different to the rest of the record.
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that's the one we heard
Digging: Smog - A River Ain't Too Much Too Love
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
O sorry babe were you with him at the time?
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yes bb
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excellent album , among my 2009's top 5 till now
| | | Album Rating: 5
This is an extremely bad, deleterious review, undeserving of the praise it has received here. I will explain why I think so in a few short sentences.
1. Complaining that the music is not "universal" enough is tantamount saying you'd prefer it to have no particulars. One of the reasons that Coldplay are so successful is that they don't SAY anything.
2. On that note, the constant comparisons to Coldplay are lazy and uninformative, as well as being wrong.
3. I think the reviewer is forgetting what makes The Last Broadcast great, which is that it's a stylistically varied yet cohesive rock record with a distinctive sound. This record is, just as much. What sticks in this reviewer's head about The Last Broadcast is probably its novelty, whether or not they'd like to admit it, and that will never come back.
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